…rather than a lifetime of nothing special. A diabetes blog.

When we last left off, I had been diagnosed and given a meter but I had absolutely no clue what I was doing. And actually, I was fine. I was experiencing what we like to call a ‘honeymoon period”. Adding the short time on Glucophage to that mix, and my pancreas was shocked totally back in action. I would test my blood sugar occasionally but mostly I was just going on with my life like normal.

The next academic year, my senior year in college, I was taking 17 credits and working 4 part-time jobs. I was pretty busy and didn’t spend too much time on myself.

Starting in about October or November, people started asking me if I was feeling alright – if I was eating. I had no idea what the big deal was – I was actually eating more than I ever had. And I was thirsty – really thirsty. That Christmas, we went to visit extended family in New York and they also were concerned about how I looked. When I go back and look at pictures now, I can’t believe that I didn’t notice anything was wrong.

Me and my grandma that Christmas – the two diabetics in the family!

When I got back to campus after Christmas, the concerned questions got more and more frequent. It was really annoying because as I ate more and more, more and more people were asking me if I was anorexic. I could not figure out what was going on.

I noticed that my clothes were not fitting so well anymore. My size 4 jeans had to be held up with a belt on the smallest setting.

I was waking up every night with leg cramps and to use the bathroom.

The most disturbing part to me was that I could only wear one pair of shoes that I owned because they were very light and they laced up. Anything other than that felt too heavy for my legs to carry to class. No matter what, the walk to class almost left me in tears of exhaustion.

And I was moody – boy was I moody! I actually ended up having to switch roommates and living areas because I could not control my emotions and deal with a simple situation like an adult!

Since I had been told I should be controlling this with diet and exercise, I was working out like crazy and religiously logging fasting numbers no lower than 200 and daytime numbers between 400 and 600. By mid-February, I finally hit a crisis point.

My wrist and the bagginess of the size XS shirt I am wearing really scare me in this picture.

Sara,
Wow! You look soooo thin in these pictures. I did this when I went through a really stressful period with my family about 7 years ago. Luckily, no one took many pictures of me. I’m sure I looked like a sack of bones. My diabetes was horrible, too! But I definitely grew out of that & thankfully, the family crisis worked itself out.

landileighsays:

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Disclaimer

The information you are reading here is on a personal blog. The information here should not be viewed as medical advice of any kind. If you have any questions, please consult a health care professional before making any changes to your health care plan.

I am currently employed by a leading global organization funding type 1 diabetes research, however any views expressed on this site continue to be solely my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.